The Epstein Aftermath: How the Files Act as a Breeding Ground for Conspiracies

(Content warning: This report contains graphic details about sexual assault, violence, gore, and death. Reader discretion is advised.)As the massive 2026 release of the ‘Epstein Files’ by the US’ Department of Justice (DoJ) continues to rattle global elites, India has become a central battleground for a bizarre collision between verified diplomatic records and resurging fringe theories. While the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) swiftly dismissed the financier’s claims of proximity to "Delhi leadership" as the "trashy ruminations" of a convicted criminal, the vacuum of the 30 lakh page (and counting) document dump has fueled a viral resurgence of conspiracy theories among Indian social media users. These extreme narratives, ranging from the alleged harvesting of youth-extending chemicals to the baseless claim that world leaders like Joe Biden were replaced after a 2019 "death", are no longer distant American conspiracy theorist fodder. With a woman residing in India – possibly a victim – being named in the files, it didn’t take long for social media users and content creators here to hop on the bandwagon on speculation and theories.Team WebQoof spotted and analysed these theories, and here’s what we found.The Jeffrey Epstein Files Show Who Really Pays When Power Is ExposedA widely shared and oft repeated theory involves adrenochrome, a biological compound that our bodies produce by oxidising adrenaline. Adrenaline, or epinephrine, is usually released within a few minutes of a person experiencing extreme stress, fear, danger, or intense excitement. A section of social media users have shared posts to claim that adrenochrome can allegedly reverse aging with a blood transfusion and that it is created “by torturing little children… to get their adrenaline up… and extract it from them.” While the email is real, this conspiracy theory about adrenochrome being harvested from tortured babies and being injected to ‘reverse aging’ has no basis in verifiable science. One such reel theorising the motives behind torturing babies and allegedly gathering their blood can be seen here. At the time of writing this report, this video by Instagram user Niharika Choudhary had gathered over 14.7 million views, where she called those involved “blood-sucking satanic paedophiles,” dubbing adrenochrome the “fountain of youth.”This long-standing conspiracy theory about harvesting adrenochrome from tortured children found its roots in internet subcultures and elements of the QAnon movement, where it has been conflated with other unfounded claims about global elites engaging in child exploitation for strange substances. The Quint also published a report about it back in 2020, when the theories first surfaced and were shared in India during protests about the death of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput, with a section of people believing it to be a murder, and not a suicide.Mira Nair And Bill Gates Named In Latest Epstein Files ReleaseOne of the most popular theories that Indian, as well as international social media users have shared had to do with cannibalism and eating babies.Sharing posts insinuating that Epstein, and some of the elites mentioned in the files, often consumed the flesh of babies and children were often shared with graphic media, such as this partially redacted image claiming to have been taken from one of the files released by the DOJ.“In one of the Epstein files pictures, something resembling a child’s leg is visible between two pieces of chicken.Some other files also mention eating human flesh,” one user noted in Hindi, sharing this image.We did not find this image in any of the files. A reverse image search on the photo led us to a blog post from 2009 with the same image.Since it carried a watermark with the name ‘Harald Seiwert’, we used that to look for the source of the image. This took us to Seiwert’s YouPic page, which identified him as a Dutch digital artist, who often created art using the male nude.The photo was published here in 2005, with its caption noting that it was first taken on 14 March 2002 and later submitted for an advertisement competition in Italy in 2004.Another instance included a photograph showing Epstein with Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger and former US President Bill Clinton. It showed plates full of white food in front of the three, claiming to show them eating babies’ flesh.Some news organisations, too, shared this image in their reports about alleged cannibalism on Little St James’ island.When we combed through the DOJ’s file dump, we found that the photo had been edited. It originally showed the three men with beverages on the table, joined by another unnamed man.Another user shared a photo, claiming that it showed visuals from Epstein's mansion. They claimed that Epstein had tied and suspended a person from his ceiling, stating that this image was released as part of the files released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act (EFTA).But that’s not true. The image shows a sculpture in Epstein’s Manhattan apartment, as photographed by The New York Times, published in August 2025.Hardeep Puri Says He Only Met Epstein With Delegation, But Emails Disprove ThisScreenshots of partially redacted emails were also shared to push conspiracies about health and safety. One such instance shows this screenshot of a partially redacted email sent to Epstein, claiming that he had been discussing the COVID-19 pandemic back in 2015. “Please find attached a draft agenda for the meeting on preparing for pandemics, as requested.Let's discuss next steps, for example how to officially involve the WHO and ICRC (i.e. co-branding),” it read, referring to the World Health Organisation and the International Committee of the Red Cross.Another user on X used this excerpt to claim that “COVID WAS A GLOBAL ELITE PSYOP — THEY PLANNED PANDEMICS FOR YEARS TO ENSLAVE HUMANITY! (sic).”This user theorised that Epstein “wasn’t there for science,” but was there to guarantee compliance,” gathering people to commit paedophilia and recording evidence so it could be used as leverage against the global elite. It fed into the infamous conspiracy of a ‘Plandemic’, stating that the COVID-19 pandemic was planned; a conspiracy theory which was widely debunked by fact-checkers and journalists, including ones from The Quint, back in 2020.You can read our breakdown of the claims made by the ‘Plandemic’ conspiracy theorists here and here.Here are some more posts sharing the ‘Plandemic’ theory in 2026, fuelled by the files’ release.We closely went through all accessible documents from the files, and found that there was no communication prior to 2020 discussing COVID-19 specifically. The email in question, along with several others, such as this one from 2012, shows text mentioning “pandemics”, with this one specifically discussing “challenges to biological security.”Think these claims and theories didn’t reach the Indian audience? Here’s a professionally produced conspiracy-themed video in Hindi.While the previous posts spoke about COVID-19 being ‘released’ to ‘enslave humanity’, another version of the same claim said that the virus was intentionally spread to depopulate the planet, claiming that even COVID-19 vaccines were meant to cause cardiac issues in people and eventually kill them.This version of the claim invoked Bill Gates’ name, whose name has appeared in the files on multiple occasions. As Epstein Files Rock UK Politics, How Much Longer Can Keir Starmer Survive?Gates was also linked to an alleged “proposed research initiative, sometimes referred to as ‘BGC3’” years before COVID-19 emerged. It is no secret that Gates had discussed pandemic preparedness on public platforms for many years. This claim, however, uses an AI-generated video showing Gates and Epstein in a laboratory to further propagate the ‘plandemic’ theory.A simple keyword search, along with a date filter on Google to remove recent conversations related to the Epstein files, shows that BGC3 is not a research initiative, it is what Bill Gates’ private office and investment firm ‘Gates Ventures’ used to be called before 2018.With the list of conspiracy theories increasing with the release of more documents from the Epstein Files, some social media users went a step beyond and claimed that Epstein was alive and was actually living peacefully in Israel.An X premium user had shared a photo that purportedly showed Epstein walking on the street with two people with a caption that said, “BREAKING: Someone who looks like Jeffery Epstein was JUST SPOTTED walking in Tel Aviv, Israel. Could this really be him? It’s literally him.”Do you think this was an one-off such post? Well, look at the screenshots below and see how many people shared the same image with a similar claim. You can view some of the archives here, here, here, and here.However, this image was actually an AI-generated one. The full image clearly showed the logo of Google’s AI tool ‘Gemini’ at the bottom-right corner. To further verify this, we asked Gemini to deploy SynthID and check the authenticity of the image. The tool affirmed that the image was indeed an AI-generated one and made by Gemini.And then came MORE theories.Multiple X users claimed in a post that Epstein’s Fortnite account was active and was operated from Israel. The username was identified as “littlestjeff1". These posts aimed to serve as evidence that the sex offender was indeed alive and that the ‘claim’ of his death was incorrect.You can access these posts here, here, here, and here. (Swipe right to view all screenshots.)As this theory grew prominence on social media platforms, the official X handle of Fortnite Support had to step in and issue a clarification. The post shared on 6 February said, “Hey Official Fortnite here - this was a ruse by a Fortnite player. A few days ago, an existing Fortnite account owner changed their username from something totally unrelated to littlestjeff1, following the revelation of littlestjeff1 as a name on YouTube…”'Trump Travelled 8 Times With Epstein, Once With a 20-Yr-Old': New Release SaysOne of the documents (which is not available on the Epstein Library anymore) carried text saying that former United States President Joe Biden was ‘killed’ in 2019 by the firing squad and that he was replaced by someone else.Following this, a barrage of posts carrying a screenshot from that particular document went viral on social media platforms. You can see some of the examples below: (Swipe)However, this was not a new theory. It was merely fuelled by the emergence of new Epstein files. In the past, current US President Donald Trump had also claimed that Biden was executed in 2020 and was replaced by a robotic clone.While this ‘theory’ is not backed by any credible evidence, it did not stop social media users from creating their own ‘proofs’. Some videos were circulated claiming that the ‘mask’ worn by the clone can easily be spotted.You can access the archives of the posts here, here, and here.(Swipe)One of the users shared a video of a robot wearing a prosthetic mask to claim that it showed how the clone of Biden was actually created. Evidence? NO! Far fetched theory? YES!Trump's Photo Restored in Epstein Files Amid Backlash Over 'Selective Release'Team WebQoof had published a report in 2023, which delved deeper into why people share conspiracy theories on the internet or in real lives. It referred to a research paper titled ‘By any memes necessary: Belief- and chaos-driven motives for sharing conspiracy theories on social media’, which established that people share unfounded theories around hot topics because of their “need for chaos".It further suggested that motivated sharing – which involved sharing theories that reinforce an individual’s or group’s beliefs – was the strongest predictor of people’s willingness to share conspiracy theories on social media.Why are conspiracy theories dangerous?: In the last few years, we have witnessed heightened real-life consequences due to such conspiracy theories online. In 2024, The Quint had published a deep-dive based on a report titled 'Hate Speech Events in India', which detailed that 420 instances of hate speeches against Muslims in 2023 mentioned conspiracy theories.The report was published by India Hate Lab, which was a Washington-based group. The Quint’s report further carried instances of violence that took place against the Muslim community after these theories of ‘jihad’ caught on.Can these theories create a sense of chaos?: Yes. In 2021, we had established how anti-vaccination groups were rampant on Telegram. These groups consistently shared messages to tell others that the coronavirus vaccines were concocted to ‘depopulate’ the earth.It shared videos from different platforms, all of which showed that the pandemic was actually a hoax. While the government in different countries ran campaigns to ask their public to get vaccinated, similar groups on Telegram were busy convincing others to not take the vaccine.This was then converted into offline groups, who regularly protested and advocated against the vaccinations. The result of this? CHAOS.It should be noted that the concept of conspiracy theories is not new, however, the scale of real-life consequences has heightened in the past few years.This paints a glaring picture and also shifts some of the responsibility on the users. So, what can people like you and me do?Do not believe these conspiracy theories blindly? Look for evidence behind such claims. If there is concrete evidence, it is most likely that the claim does not carry any truth.In case of any medical claims, look for research papers or refer to official sources like the WHO. It is always advisable to consult your doctor before taking any medicine.And when you receive such theories on your WhatsApp, do not forward them to your friends and family members. This makes you safe from becoming a WebQoof.Clinton, Michael Jacson, Kevin Spacey: Who All Feature in Epstein Files' Photos?(Not convinced of a post or information you came across online and want it verified? Send us the details on WhatsApp at 9540511818 , or e-mail it to us at webqoof@thequint.com and we'll fact-check it for you. You can also read all our fact-checked stories here.)

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The Epstein Aftermath: How the Files Act as a Breeding Ground for Conspiracies

The deep dive debunks the resurgence of conspiracy theories around the COVID-19 pandemic, Epstein's death, and more.

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